SKEAN DUBHS

Comrie Craft Sgian Dubhs

**Comrie Crafts is back in production full time. They have added some new styles to their line, which we have on order. Photos will be posted when they are received.**

Three more sgians from Comrie Crafts. On the left is a red deer crown with Celtic knotwork inlay. In the center is a cocobolo handle with sterling silver knotwork inlay and horn cap (not available at this time). On the right is a bull horn handle with a contrasting horn cap. The bull horn is also available with knotwork inlays. All three knives have ebony accents. Call for price and availability.
Please call for Price and Availability

Laird's Skean Dubh
The newest addition to our line, this skean sports chrome fittings, an amethyst jewel in the pommel and a Damascus steel blade. Larger than most skeans we offer, this one is 8 inches overall (when sheathed) with a 3 inch jimped back blade. The perfect companion piece for our Laird's Dirk.
$95 plus $5 post & packing

Dress Skean Dubh

For the dress-up occasion. The blackwood hilt, surmounted with nickel-silver fittings, is carved on the front side, smooth on the leg side for comfort. The black sheath is fitted with nickel-silver throat and tip.
SOLD OUT...THERE WILL BE NO MORE.

Scottish Sgian Dubhs

Red Deer crown on the left and Arctic Birch on the Right
Below you see the Red Deer crown with thistle inlay, Stag beam with nickle silver button, Turned ebony with a horn cap and paduk trim and lastly another antler beam with thistle inlay and horn cap. All but the ebony sgian are accented with ebony trim.

Made by Comrie Crafts of Pitlochry, Scotland, these stag-hilted sgians are the finest we have seen. Made from red deer crowns or beams and equipped with the traditional style blade with jimped back and fitted with a leather sheath, embossed with a Celtic design, these are high quality knives. All styles are not always in stock. Please call for availability and price.

The dollar to pound exchange rate is changing rapidly.

The Regimental Skean Dubh

Companion piece to our Dirk for Dress or Daywear, the Regimental has a jimped blade, crosshatched blackwood hilt and leatherette covered sheath with nickel silver throat and tip. New regular low price.
$39 postpaid **Back in stock after an absence of several months. We should not have any supply problems in the future.**
A Word About Spelling
On this page you will see various spellings for the same type of weapon, the "Black Knife" of the Highlander. The word "skean or sgian dubh" means black knife in Gaelic. That does not refer to the color of the handle, but to the fact that the knife was small and usually hidden somewhere on the Highlander's person. Many Highlanders carried a small knife tucked up under the armpit, inside the waistcoat, and this was referred to as a "skean occles" or, literally, an "armpit knife". The practice of wearing the skean tucked into the top of the kilt hose dates to no earlier than the end of the 18th century. There are many legends about why the knife is now carried in the hose, most of them untrue. In point of fact, the skean was just a bit too big to carry in the sporran, and with the abandonment of the great kilt or belted plaid, with its many "pockets", the most practical place to put the small knife was in the kilt hose. We have seen Victorian era comments about the wearing of the skean that specify that it be carried in the top of the right stocking, even by a left handed person!
We do not know why there are different spellings for the same word in Gaelic, but it appears that "sgian" is probably the older spelling. Either one is acceptable